pre teen on cruise

[sofunky]

We have cruised several times with and without our kids. We are planning another cruise with the kids and my daughter will be 14 and can sign herself in and out of camp carnival. I have always felt perfectly safe on board but my friends and family keep telling me horror stories on cruises. Should I be more worried? She is a pretty good kid and the last cruise was good about letting me know where she was at all times but she was 12 then and now looks much older.....does anyone have any suggestions? Should I be really concerned?

[Seago2]

IMHO you have nothing at all to worry about. My 11 year old had complete freedom last summer on Carnival. Even my 7 year old could go key himself into the room to quickly get his GameBoy or something like that. 11 yo stayed behind in Camp Carnival while we were in Cozumel and was able to sign himself in and out. I really appreciate the way they treat kids like responsible individuals. I never saw any instances of bad kid behavior from any kids.

 

As a caveat I will say that I had two older kids with me and they all kind of kept track of each other- kind of. But most of the time he was on a mission to go get something, check something out for me, look for his brothers, etc. So he was always back and forth. You should give her a watch and tell her to check in every 20 minutes or something, unless she is doing something specific.

 

Don't let the horror stories and "I would never!" posts alarm you. The best thing about a cruise is the freedom it gives you- all of you.

[Seabee]

Are you in the habit of letting your daughter wander about in the presence of 2 or three thousand strangers? I'd keep an extremely close rein on her. If she meets several kids and they pal around together with a firm warning about separating I would be OK...but on her own throughout the ship...no way. Besides the passengers, there is the crew to worry about. It only takes one bad person to really cause problems.

[Seago2]

Oookayyyy I am going to respectfully unsuscribe from this thread now. Nice meeting you. Good luck on your cruise. Don't let the alarmists worry you. Maybe a good topic starter would be: "Has anyone ever heard of anything ever happening to an 11 year old ever on a cruise ship ever?" Then you can tally up the post totals of all the responders. I will bet that out of about 20,000 previous posts you will hear one or two bad stories. Max.

[sofunky]

Last time we cruised she was 12 and quickly met 4 friends her age and they stayed together in groups the entire time. She is very outgoing and makes friends easily so I think thast is how it will be this time but I'm worried about even a few girls that age being able to walk around on their own....I'm not so worried about what they will do but what others might do....not that I dont trust people but just worry about it....last time our 2-way radios did not always work and I just worry. I dont want her to have to stay with Mom the entire trip...but it is a big ship with lots of people...anyone have any good communication advice?

[4merlurker]

sofunky: DH and I were very comfortable letting the kids be out on their own on the ship (explorer of the seas). They made friends, hung out in groups but were NEVER allowed to roam by themselves - they always had to use the buddy system! You know your daughter, how mature she is and what she is capable of. Encourage her to meet some friends her age the first day/night and stress that they need to stick together!! :) I'm sure the parent's of these friends will agree and appreciate your daughter hanging out with their kids too. Everyone wins!

 

~Connie

[RevSmith]

You sound like a good mother...error on the side of caution, but not overly so...your children have cruised before...they know how to act!